flannery bomb

2012-01-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

Helping at home

2012-01-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

poor baby can't breathe

2012-01-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

Sweet Zoë...

playing the drum she made from legos

making a Valentine mailbox

2012-01-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

Eleni has RSV which is horrible chest and head congestion (a virus) and then double ear infections. We spent some time in the ER last night. Thankfully, she isn't dehydrated since we push tons of water. She got an antibiotic shot last night which seems to really have helped. Today she starts another antibiotic along with closer breathing treatments and keeping the ibuprofen and tylenol.

2012-01-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

someone likes to immitate her sister...

2012-01-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

a few minutes outside before the weekend is over

2012-01-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15T17:07:00.000-08:00

2012-01-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

another cute one from behind

2012-01-07T11:43:00.001-08:00

Some neat things have happened this week. Eleni usually gives one word, but she started saying a full phrase: "I love you." She is enjoying being read to more too. Zoë amazes me with the art she brought home from school. She had actually drawn both myself and Eric--you could actually see a face, body, arms, legs etc. So neat!

2012-01-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Eleni's first Home Depot project was a success. Both girls built a house piggy bank. We still need to paint them, but you should see the glitter paint we bought there...

2012-01-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

2012-01-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here we are painting coffee filter snowflakes (that Eric and I made Zoë) around and onto other paper, using watercolors--they turned out beautiful!

2012-01-02T18:43:00.000-08:00

2011-12-31T15:11:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve wagon ride

2011-12-30T15:15:00.000-08:00

We had a great time in Pigeon Forge. We ate at Johnny Carinos, shopped outlets, did a playground and some rides. Good times.

2011-12-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

ready for some rides

fish face practice

2011-12-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

Tennessee House

2011-12-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

so excited to be coloring

2011-12-26T19:04:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely pizza party for Christmas. It was so nice of Khela to have it at her house for us and to let the girls bounce around any and everywhere. Things were really cozy and nice. I know the girls had a complete blast along with us.

Eric and I were also very spoiled. Here are Khela and Stephens gifts for us: a clear teapot (a luxury I never bought for myself), two books that we can definitely use in the kitchen, oven mits (they're a bit more special than that actually--they have silicone etc.), a Gremlins blue ray movie and a video game Eric wanted.

Eric never thought he'd see a pole saw--he's so excited about that. We have lots of limbs here and there, and now he can get to them (and then make us toys out of them?). He also received some money and a fajita skillet. I also received a shockingly generous gift: a computerized sewing machine with lessons offered for me and another person with Phyllis. So very thoughtful knowing that I have so much to learn and am a bit timid about it all. We also got some great silicone cups for the kitchen, coffees, herbs to grow etc.

2011-12-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

I'm such a nut--I forgot to take pictures tonight even though I did remember to bring my camera. But here are some shots of the lovely gifts we received at our Weldon Christmas party.

Phyllis made the girls dolls--you can see that Zoë requested a Dora doll--she even has a backpack! They also got a huge chunk of savings account money and lovely bags that light up and flash.

Khela and Stephen got them some soft, extravagant Vera Bradley backpacks. Those will be wonderful for their whole lives, I daresay.

Stephen's parents were so thoughtful--they sent gifts for the girls. Zoë has already worked on the puzzles, and Eleni definitely likes that bear. :)

2011-12-25T08:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

going for Mommy's jugular...

2011-12-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

2011-12-25T08:29:00.000-08:00

Gram and Papa made us cinnamon rolls from scratch and brought them to share breakfast after we opened our gifts!

2011-12-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

It was difficult to get Eleni to understand presents. We had to lure her in with teddy grahams...

2011-12-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

Daddy made each girl a car.

Eleni is taken with the Ostheimer figures.

2011-12-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

Daddy works on a puzzle we found for him.

Eleni received a shelf, a goldilocks set (wooden), a book, a bird whistle, a rainbow bag, a gnome in a pod, a bonnet, bean bags and a bag (Mommy made these), 2 woolen/silk shirts, stockmar block crayons (with a bag made by Daddy), a car made by Daddy (purple) and The little old lady who lived in a shoe (with all her knitted children).

2011-12-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Zoë recieved a green hairbow (the only thing she asked Santa for), a book, a knitted vest, a woolen/silk shirt, stockmar crayons, stickers, smencils, thank you cards to decorate/color, a harmonica, a quilt for her babies, a Peter and the Wolf wooden set and music CD, a felted water bottle carrier, the Walnut babies and mommies that I made her, the pink car that Eric made her, do-a-dot books, lacing shapes and strings, a handmade evi doll and felt bed and a kit for growing rock crystals.

Santa left gifts for all four of us Weldons that included a rainbow basket, a twirling rainbow streamer, a large starry playsilk, two Ostheimer figures (mother and daughter), a nesting house, flower pocket fairies, knitted peg gnomes, the wooden table and chairs set and wooden trees.

Throughout Advent we opened baggies that held a little Christmas candy or two, ornaments for the tree and these little peg people.

2011-12-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

Papa's look

Daddy demonstrating our streamer

2011-12-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

Mommy's big gift was this nature table festivals stand. So much we can do with this!!

2011-12-24T17:38:00.000-08:00

a few post-Santa shots

2011-12-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

official Santa visit pics from the Y

2011-12-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

2011-12-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

I don't love global warming, but we've had a lovely day so far! I think we'll go out after her nap too. (We played in the rain yesterday too which we greatly enjoyed. We always go out no matter what, even if it's just for a few minutes. It does us a world of good!)

2011-12-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

2011-12-21T18:38:00.001-08:00

This season is a good time for yoga. Zoë tried everything. Eleni only tried to roar like a lion and say "om."

2011-12-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

Zoë and I found these in the yard and decided they'd be nice decoration for our Solstice Cocoa.

2011-12-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

exploring in the rain, little seedlings

2011-12-20T17:14:00.001-08:00

2011-12-20T17:14:00.000-08:00

2011-12-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Cookies with Santa at the Y this rainy afternoon

2011-12-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

She did find joy before ripping them out. :)

2011-12-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

2011-12-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

She was not happy about the pigtales.

2011-12-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

2011-12-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

2011-12-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

sweet puppies

2011-12-17T17:32:00.001-08:00

2011-12-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

2011-12-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at Gram and Papa's for Christmas tonight. The dinner was as amazing as ever. We think they enjoyed their gifts, and we know we enjoyed ours! The girls got some pretty comprehensive gifts. Eleni got a decoration like Zoë has (wooden), an Elmo toy, wooden puzzles with shapes, and the big one was her table and chairs. They both got adorable cloth dolls to snuggle with too. Zoë got several dress up pieces and outfits (lots of dresses, skirts, wings, shoes, etc.) along with a huge, revolving dress up caddy of sorts. It's hard to describe--check out these pictures.

2011-12-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

costumes, dress up

2011-12-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

2011-12-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

singing in her program today

2011-12-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

Eleni has been very sick the last couple of days. Our doctor was considering hospitalizing her, but so far we're skimming by enough to avoid it. Not enough fluids still--hoping tomorrow is a better day that way. The good thing about last night and today is that she kept down her antibiotic so maybe we can get that ear cleared up. (We assume the vomitting was from high fever etc.)

She'll likely be on a preventative antibiotic until close to Spring (like Zoë was) to avoid tubes. This is the third infection in that ear in 5-6 wks. We're asking people not to wear perfume around her and to keep artificially scented things away in terms of her environment. It could be allergies that keep her constantly draining and thereby causing ear infections.

2011-12-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

midweek

2011-12-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Fun at the park

2011-12-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

2011-12-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

2011-12-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

2011-12-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

2011-12-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Things are clean and mostly stored away, but we'll keep St. Nicholas out for a while. :)

2011-12-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

2011-12-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

Zoë and her friend, Sofia

2011-12-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice time at our St. Nicholas Tea Party. Briana, her mom (Janice), Sofia, her mom (Barbara), Cousins April, Misty, Gracie and Ella and then Gram, Papa and Grandmom came. We had such a nice group. We played with toys, ate/drank, chatted and enjoyed Christmas coziness. Such a lovely morning.

We got to use some of Grandma and Grandpa Hall's precious dishes. (We didn't take enough photos of our spread to see that.) We also like having all our decorations up to share with friends and family. There are lights everywhere I think.

2011-12-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

working on fish face

2011-12-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Sweet, sweet cousins!

2011-12-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

A few shots of many decorations and food. We had a lovely spread, really. Yummy drinks and eats. We had chocolate and cinnamon scones, Christmas tree tea sandwiches, strawberry and kiwi, a cheese ball etc., nuts and some cheeses, chips and salsa, traditional St. Nicholas chocolate coins, two types of tea (Earl Grey and children's apple vanilla included), coffee and strawberry-lemonade punch (which really isn't very lemonade-like--delicious either way).

2011-11-24T18:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely day. It was full of good food and good company, and that was even so given sick Eleni who had to alter her plans. As you can see, she's not in her best time (ear infections, LOTS of meds, upset stomach) so she hung back at Mom and Dad's so I could still have lunch at Aunt Khela's house. Khela cooked us up a feast along with Physh, and it was soooo delicious. We had desserts at Mom and Dad's and bedded down the girls just a little past normal bedtime. Hopefully 5:00 a.m. won't be the waking hour of choice (as it seems to be here lately).

2011-11-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

the doctor is in...

one of her rare smiles today as we opened our christmas ornament gifts to kick off the season

See what all that good food does?

2011-11-21T19:17:00.001-08:00

fun in the leaves

2011-11-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

2011-11-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Eleni can climb up the back and slide down on her own now.

2011-11-21T04:32:00.001-08:00

2011-11-21T04:30:00.000-08:00

2011-11-21T04:20:00.000-08:00

2011-11-19T18:32:00.001-08:00

2011-11-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

2011-11-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

2011-11-12T17:22:00.001-08:00

some of our typical table decor from this festival

2011-11-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

Our Martinmas celebration went great. Friday was enriching--Zoë came to my school that morning to meet our school social worker and donate coats to children who need them in the cold. Tonight we had our take on some traditional food--I'm combined the breads and the apple stuff into my own creating with crescent rolls--my homemade apple sauce though. I was the only one to partake of the hot mulled cider (which was good), but everyone enjoyed the modern twist of salad and pizza. As you can see, we all wore some kind of cape like St. Martin and did our little lantern walk. The adults kept up plenty of laughter asking me if we were going to do any chants or do a little ET-phone-home business (see dad's homemade foil hat for that part).

2011-11-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

lantern glow

2011-11-12T17:14:00.000-08:00

2011-11-12T09:51:00.001-08:00

some insights about Dolly

2011-11-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

2011-11-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

After our Campfire USA activities (hiking, nature collage etc.)

2011-11-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at Aunt Lisa's Howard Thanksgiving!

2011-11-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

2011-11-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

2011-11-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

2011-11-06T16:24:00.001-08:00

2011-11-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

2011-11-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

2011-10-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

diligent candy helpers

2011-10-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

on the move--mostly enjoying squishing small snicker bars

2011-10-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

2011-10-31T17:17:00.001-07:00

2011-10-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

Zoë's Martinmas (in preparation for Nov 11) lantern--we used tissue paper, watered down glue and a balloon. Once it was all dry, we popped the balloon, pierced holes and added some string. We plan to use a fake tealight for our lantern walk.

2011-10-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

"Sewing"

2011-10-30T17:19:00.001-07:00

We stayed outside almost two hours this afternoon--it was so beautiful here today!

2011-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00